PennEast, a consortium of natural gas companies that includes all four New Jersey gas providers, wants to build a 118-mile, 36-inch pipeline
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - Homeowners in the path of the proposed PennEast pipeline were joined by local, state and national politicians as well as environmental groups on Baldpate Mountain Monday vowing to fight the 118-mile proposed natural gas conduit.
U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Colmean (D-12th Dist.) joined state Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-16th Dist.), Assemblywoman Liz Muoio (D-15th Dist.) and Hopewell Township Mayor Harvey Lester at the Ted Stiles Preserve at Baldpate Mountain to denounce the proposed $1.2 billion pipeline and called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the proposal.
"Our responsibility is to be a good steward of this planet,'' Watson Coleman said. "Let us flood them with petitions from people who know better and know that this pipeline needs to be stopped.''
PennEast, a consortium of natural gas companies that includes all four New Jersey gas providers, wants to build a 118-mile, 36-inch pipeline stretching from Northeastern Pennsylvania to Hopewell Township.
The company last week filed its formal application to the federal energy commission, which regulates pipelines that cross state lines, for permission to build the pipeline. No timeline was available for the approval process, but PennEast has said the company expects to start construction, if approved, in 2017.
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Monday's event was held near the site where PennEast representatives in August had been performing soil borings, an act that Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said was potentially environmentally harmful.
Mercer County soon after booted PennEast off all county-owned lands. Hopewell Township also banned PennEast from surveying on public land.
"We must continue the fight,'' Hopewell Township Harvey Lester said. "The battle continues. We will not give in.''
Opposition to the PennEast proposal has been widespread in New Jersey. Every town through which it is proposed to travel has adopted resolutions against it.
"This pipeline is terrible,'' Bateman said. "This one has to be stopped."
Because only about a third of the property owners in the proposed pipeline's path through Hunterdon and Mercer counties have allowed the company to perform surveys, the DEP doesn't have enough information to determine which permits PennEast will need, according to a July 2 letter from the DEP.
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Patty Cronheim, founder of the Hopewell Township Citizens Against the PennEast Pipeline, said the PennEast proposal was a "wake up call'' for residents along the pipeline's path. Cronheim said people who knew nothing about pipelines a year ago had become quick studies and began to organize against PennEast.
"We see a better way,'' Cronheim said.
Monday's event also included environmental groups that have fought against the PennEast pipeline, including the N.J. Conservation Foundation, the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association and the state Sierra Club.
"This is about the future of this country and of this planet,'' Tittel said. "This is about keeping people addicted to fossil fuels so we don't move to a green energy future.''
Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.